Don't Tell
by Shiro Ryuu
Summary: [FINISHED] SxK So, Serenity has finally gotten through to Kaiba and everything appears to be peaches and cream... when the unthinkable happens... No character death, dun worry! Review, please?
1. The Thing About Pizza

**Explanation**: [sniffle] I was BOOTED! ...muttermutter, whinewhine... Okay, okay. So here I am, having to repost EVERYTHING. After some thought, I've decided to leave 'most everything unaltered - reason being, my laziness. [sweatdrop] For all ya'll who've never read this, I do WAY better stuff now, so check out my bio for some more recent stories (when I get them up, anyhoo...). This was my first fic! As it says below. [sweatdrop] Okies, so before I scare everyone off I'll just say that since all six chappies have already been written, I'll probably post every three to seven days. Enjoy!!! =============================================================== ****

**About the timeline**: It's a couple years after Duelists' Kingdom, but Battle City hasn't happened. Confused yet? Kaiba hasn't met Ishizu (sp?) either, and Yami and Tea haven't had their 'date' where Yami meets Ishizu, but Serenity has had her eye operation. Okay, now you're confused :)  
  
**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Yu-gi-oh!... so please, don't sue me! [begging] I mean, isn't obvious that I don't own Yu-gi-oh? If I did, Serenity would be madly in love with Kaiba and not the least bit interested in Tristian, and Joey and Mai would have kissed by now.  
  
**=A/N=**

SR: Well, this is my first fanfic, and... It's gonna suck, isn't it?  
  
Kaiba: Yup. Sounds like it.  
  
SR: HEY! You weren't supposed to agree!  
  
Kaiba: Then you shouldn't have said anything... [reading] Ack! Okay, that is not me. That is just NOT me! I refuse to partake in this fanfic!  
  
SR: [evil laugh] Ah, but you have to! I'm the author; you must do whatever I want! [evil laugh]  
  
Kaiba: Yeah, but you couldn't even spell author the first time; you had to go back and fix it...  
  
SR: ... Oops? Whatever. You WILL be in this fanfic!  
  
Kaiba: Never! I will no- Ack!  
  
SR: [smirks] Too late!  
  
=============================================================== **Chapter One**: The Thing About Pizza ===============================================================  
  
{Wednesday afternoon}  
  
'I hate this...' Seto Kaiba paused for just a moment to glare at his paperwork before getting back to it. 'I really do.'  
  
Finally he gave up, and started pacing around his office. 'What is the matter with me?' he wondered. 'I didn't used to have trouble concentrating, but lately... I can't keep my mind on anything. I can't concentrate in school either...' He smirked. 'Well, okay, no loss there; the best thing school ever gave me was enough free time to work on the duel disk without being bothered... But work's important, and it's just as bad here. Even Mokuba says I'm distant.'  
  
He paused in front of one of the large windows, watching the other kids streaming home from school. He, of course, had gotten here faster because of his limo (he always stopped at his office for a few hours before going home). He was absent-mindedly watching the people several stories down and across the street that were waiting for the 'walk' sign, when he saw something that made him narrow his eyes. 'Joey! The 'puppy-dog...' And... Oh my; now that's something I'd never have imagined...' Joey was holding hands with a girl. "Joey has a girlfriend... call the presses..." he muttered, smirking again.  
  
Suddenly the girl looked up, as if she felt him watching her. Kaiba gasped; he'd seen her before, but he had had no idea she was Joey's girlfriend. She had just started attending the same school as him recently, and they had geometry together (the class in which he paid the least attention of all, of course). The fact had already been firmly established among the other boys that she was the prettiest girl by far in that class. And he supposed she was sort of attractive, with that incredibly long orange-ish hair, but he defiantly didn't have time for girls.  
  
Suddenly he winced, realizing that he was staring (thankfully the windows were tinted so you couldn't see in, but it was still embarrassing...). 'Paperwork,' he thought sternly, and turned away.  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Wednesday evening}  
  
"I KNOW!" Mokuba shouted, right in Kaiba's ear.  
  
Kaiba groaned, running a hand through his hair and gingerly examining his laptop for damage (he had bumped it quite hard when he jumped) before turning around.  
  
"How many times have I told you not to do that?" he demanded.  
  
"What?" Mokuba asked innocently.  
  
Kaiba sighed. "I think you know quite well-"  
  
"No, really," Mokuba said seriously. "What? Sneaking up on you, yelling in your ear, or interrupting you while you're working?"  
  
"All three," Kaiba said dryly. "All right, fine, WHAT do you know? Besides how to sneak up on me better than anyone I've ever met?"  
  
"Thanks. But anyway, it must be girl trouble! I've considered every other possibility I can think of, and that seems like the most likely one."  
  
"E-excuse me?" The older brother eyed him warily. "What do you mean, girl trouble?"  
  
"You have girl troubles, Seto," he said matter-of-factly. "That's why you've been so distant. You've got a girl friend that you haven't told me about, and you got into an argument, and it all makes perfect sense!" He paused for breath. "So, who is she?"  
  
Kaiba stared, wide-eyed for a moment. Then, without warning, he grinned one of his rare grins. "Hey Mokuba, how many cups of coffee have you had today? I said you could have one if you were really tired, but I get the feeling..."  
  
"Umm..." Mokuba swallowed. "Well, it depends what you mean by a cup, after all..."  
  
"You just watch it," Kaiba said sternly. "I might have to get you a babysitter if-"  
  
"Uh, I got some homework to do, so..."  
  
"Mokuba, your tutors don't give you homework."  
  
"Darn..." He left. Hurriedly.  
  
Kaiba, still grinning, got up and locked the door. He knew what was coming.  
  
Silence.  
  
"HEY!" Mokuba yelled, pounding on the door. "You avoided my question!"  
  
He frowned, sitting back down at his laptop. There was no way what Mokuba had said was right, of course, but still...  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Friday afternoon}  
  
Serenity sighed inwardly. Her brother could be so strange, sometimes... She loved him, of course, but still... She'd lost track how many times he had complained about needing a snack, and the school was only five minutes from the pizza place they all liked to hang out at sometimes. Yes, he was strange...  
  
She smiled though, glancing at their friends; from the looks they were giving Joey, they agreed with her. Along with the four they usually hung out (Tea, Tristian, Yugi and Ryou), Mai had also joined them (Serenity suspected that her brother might be acting so strange because she was around). She was so happy she had gotten to know them. After the eye operation a year and a half ago, she and her mother had actually moved back. Well, correction: she wasn't living in the same house as her brother or anything, but she lived within walking distance. Meeting Joey before the operation had made their mother want to learn more about him again, and in doing so she had started talking with their dad again as well. It wasn't a sure thing that they would ever be really close like they used to be, but at least they were on speaking terms.  
  
"FOOD!" Joey said blissfully, interrupting her musing. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Your brother's a basket case," Mai stage-whispered, though Serenity noticed that she was grinning. Joey was too caught up in staring at what everyone else was eating to hear.  
  
After ordering their food and finding a table (one of the biggest in the place, since there were seven of them), the usual idle chit-chat broke out. Mai teased Joey about his eating habits, Yugi and Tea were uncomfortably aware that they were sitting next to each other, and Ryou was having a rather one-sided conversation with Tristian – one-sided because Tristian was staring at Serenity.  
  
Serenity didn't even notice. She was watching the people, and suddenly she elbowed Joey (he choked).  
  
"Who's that?" she asked, pointing at the boy who had just come in the door. "He looks familiar."  
  
"Ugh... um..." Joey finally got his breath back, but as soon as he saw who she was pointing to he started choking all over again. "Kaiba!" he finally managed to get out. "Aw man, don't let him sit near us..."  
  
Serenity snickered. "Isn't he the one that called you a-"  
  
"Don't say it!" he said warningly.  
  
"Well, anyway, it explains why he's familiar," she said. "He's all over the news and tabloids..."  
  
Tristian shook his head. "I'd like to know why he's in a pizza place," he commented. "I mean, the guy's a billionaire. Why come here? He could go to the most expensive restaurant in town and not even put a dent in his pocket change."  
  
"Tristian's right," Ryou agreed. "It is odd..."  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Friday afternoon}  
  
Kaiba sighed, pacing around his office again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.  
  
'Maybe I just need to spend more time relaxing,' he though dismally. 'Who am I kidding; I like work... So why can't I concentrate?!'  
  
In frustration he paused in his pacing to look out his window again. He frowned, wondering where that girl and Joey were; it was just about the time they were there yesterday, and the day before too. Of course, maybe they had gone to a party or something right after school; it was Friday evening after all.  
  
'Whoa, hold it,' he thought, gritting his teeth. 'What am I, a stalker? I was watching for her, I mean them, yesterday without even realizing it, and now I'm annoyed because they're not there?'  
  
He sat down again, uttering a depressed "Ug." 'I need help... I'm either going crazy or I'm the one who's been drinking too much coffee...' He glared around his office, suddenly feeling... just plain edgy.  
  
"Yes, too much coffee," he said, sighing, and without giving further thought to the matter, called a limo.  
  
===============================================================  
  
"So... going home early, Mr. Kaiba?" the driver asked cheerfully. Kaiba glared.  
  
"No," he said flatly, in a tone that signaled the conversation was over. There was silence for a few minutes, while Kaiba scanned the streets without knowing what he was looking for.  
  
"Here," he said suddenly.  
  
"Um..." the driver started, eyeing the building, but thought better of it.  
  
"I'll call you when I'm ready to leave," Kaiba said, and walked into the pizza place.  
  
The instant he walked in, it was like being hit with a solid wall of noise. Kaiba winced, remembering why exactly it was that he avoided places like this. For a few moments he wavered, considering leaving, but by then the crowd had somehow pushed him into the line so he just ordered and found a seat.  
  
But, of course, the annoyances didn't end there. After a moment, he began to feel like someone was watching him. He put down his slice of pizza down and looked around curiously. He was just about to put it off as being surrounded by so many people and the coffee when he thought to look behind him. His eyes widened and he hurriedly turned around again, resisting the urge to laugh.  
  
He had met a solid wall of glares. Tristian, Joey, Tea, Mai and even Ryou were all staring daggers at him. The only two who weren't were Yugi, who was too busy looking terrified of his friends at the moment, and...  
  
He just couldn't help but glance back at them again. Yes, they were all still glaring at him, but yes, there she was, Joey's apparent girl friend. He was filled, for just a moment, with some strange bitterness that he couldn't explain...  
  
Kaiba ate in silence for a minute, brooding. Finally he just couldn't take it anymore.  
  
"Nice to see you too," he said dryly, turning around in his chair to face them. "You know, if you don't stop glaring at me soon your pizza will get cold."  
  
"Blunt, as always," Tea said snidely.  
  
Serenity shook her head. "You know, I have to say," she admitted, trying not to giggle too much, "he's right. Well, partially. It might get cold, or I might just eat it all."  
  
"Don't encourage him," Joey said. "Hey, that's my piece! How many have you eaten?!"  
  
"Oh, is the puppy hungry?" Kaiba said, turning back to his food with a smirk.  
  
"Let... me... go..." Joey growled at Tristian and Ryou, who were holding him down.  
  
"Don't," Yugi said, shuddering. "He might break something."  
  
"Just take a deep breath; you'll feel better," Tea coaxed Mai, who was looking rather disturbing.  
  
Serenity took one look around the table and cracked up.  
  
"Serenity," Joey groaned, giving up the struggle at last, "you're my sister. Who's side are you on?!"  
  
"Well, I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "I mean, he is kind of hot... Hey, I was kidding; I was kidding!"  
  
Kaiba went the most amazing shade of red, thanking the heavens he wasn't facing the other way. 'Hot...? She called me hot...? And she's Joey's sister, not his girlfriend? And her name is Serenity...' He shook his head violently, angry at himself. So who cares what a girl called him? It was really time he got out of here, he decided; he had suddenly lost his appetite.  
  
He stalked out of the restaurant and stood under the street light waiting for the limo. It was refreshingly cool and quiet outside.  
  
He never noticed that Serenity was watching him the whole time, out a window.  
  
===============================================================  
  
SR: Well now, that wasn't all that bad... was it?  
  
Kaiba: [groans, running fingers through hair] No, it was awful! I've never been so humiliated! You made me completely out of character!  
  
SR: Oh, hush. [puts duck tape over Kaiba's mouth and ties him to a chair] There, that's better.  
  
Kaiba: MMMMMWWWWHHR!  
  
Serenity: [sweatdrop] Well, I thought it was pretty good, but, um... can he breath, do you think?  
  
SR: Probably. Anyway, what do you guys think? Please, review! It's all pretty much like any other fanfic right now, but I promise it'll get better – if I get enough reviews... If I don't I'll... come up with a really nasty threat, trust me. Or maybe I'll just sulk.  
  
Serenity: '...it'll get better...' Okay, now you're scaring me.  
  
SR: Good. [evil laugh]  
  
Serenity: Yes, you're really scaring me... Are you sure he can breathe?  
  
SR: Um... You know, now that you mention it, he doesn't look so good...


	2. Good Advice?

**Disclaimer**: [humming along with song on radio] ...huh?  
  
**SR**: [sniffle] Wow... I feel... motivated again! [glomps reviewers] A great big fat thank-you to all my reviewers, both on this and my other stories! For a while, I was thinking of just giving up on , but then I got on and looked at my reviews and you guys changed my mind :) I'll try to post more regularly from now on; sorry. Thank you!  
  
ShizukaXSeto - Yeah, I probably am the same person; this is gonna be six chapters once it's done. I'm honored that you remember it, considering how old it is!  
  
===============================================================  
  
**Chapter Two**: Good Advice? And the Consequences...  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Wednesday afternoon, the next week}  
  
Kaiba sat stiffly in the back seat of the limo, wishing the driver would go faster but not really feeling like asking. There was nothing like being stuck in a room with a bunch of mindless, greedy corporate jerks for an hour to make you want to go to sleep early...  
  
'But, of course, I can't,' he thought, sighing inwardly. Thanks to the meeting he had a good bit of work to take home with him, and it was already six.  
  
When he got home he greeted Mokuba (who happily knocked him into the door when he entered), then headed upstairs to his office. He had barely gotten started on the work, however, when his little brother brought him some warmed-up dinner.  
  
"Not hungry," he muttered, his attention still half on the computer screen.  
  
Mokuba made a face. "Tough. You need to eat."  
  
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm the oldest," he said distractedly. "So why is it that you sound like a parent sometimes? A mom, even!"  
  
Mokuba groaned. "That's _low_!" he complained.  
  
"Don't worry, I know it is," Kaiba assured him. "Anyway, thanks for the food, but I've got some work to do."  
  
"All right," he said, giving his big brother a quick hug and going to the door. He paused just before leave though. "Hey, anything else you need?" he asked.  
  
"No unless you can give me girl advice," Kaiba muttered under his breath.  
  
"WHAT!?" Mokuba shrieked. "Okay, now this I _gotta_ hear!"  
  
"Oh no..." Kaiba sunk down in his chair. "Please tell me I didn't just say that out loud..."  
  
"But lying is bad!" Mokuba said innocently. "Now spill."  
  
"Since when is my little brother street-wise?"  
  
"You're trying to change the subject," Mokuba stated.  
  
"Yes," he admitted.  
  
"I won't let you sleep until you tell me," Mokuba threatened.  
  
"Good." Kaiba shrugged. "I've gotta stay up anyway to work on this stuff."  
  
The younger boy grinned evilly. "I'll unplug your computer."  
  
"You wouldn't dare!"  
  
"Would too!" he snickered, hand poised above the wall socket.  
  
This lead to a brief scuffle, ending with Mokuba on the other side of the office door. "Come on, Seto!" he said, pounding on the door. "You know you want advice!"  
  
"Maybe I do," Kaiba said. "But what I _don't_ want is you spreading rumors to all your friends."  
  
"Okay, here's the deal," Mokuba said. "You tell me who she is and what's going on, and I'll try to give you advice and I promise I won't tell any of my friends. You don't tell me anything, and I spread all kinds of _nasty_ rumors."  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"It sounds fair to me," Mokuba shrugged.  
  
"Hey," Kaiba said accusingly from the other side of the door, "what makes you think that a little 5th grader like yourself could actually give good advice about... something like this?"  
  
"Unlike _some people_, I have a social life," Mokuba shot back, sticking his tongue out at the door.  
  
"You sound like a girl," Kaiba said wearily, opening the door. "Again. And don't think I didn't see that. All right, all right, get in here."  
  
"I knew I could bring you around!" Mokuba said, instantly claiming the office chair. "Okay, who is she?"  
  
Kaiba sighed, leaning against a wall. "Listen, before I tell you, I want you to promise one more thing on top of not telling anyone."  
  
"Okay," he nodded.  
  
"You have to promise that you won't tease me about this, or at least about who it is."  
  
Mokuba frowned thoughtfully. "Well, all right," he said doubtfully. "This has got to be good."  
  
The older brother swallowed, contemplating just making a break for it. "Serenity Wheeler."  
  
"As in..." Mokuba's eyes went wide. "As in _Joey_ Wheeler?!"  
  
"Don't start," Kaiba warned. "Yes. His sister. I met her in this pizza place a few days ago... don't ask... And now I can't stop thinking about her." He buried his face in his hand to hide the fact that he was blushing. "Happy now?"  
  
"Wow... Joey's sister; who'd of thought... Wow..." Mokuba appeared to be in some sort of a daze.  
  
"Are you going to sit there going 'wow' all night or are you actually going to help?" Kaiba said irritably.  
  
Mokuba snickered. "Of course! I thought you'd gotten in an argument with a girlfriend or something; this is easy. You just need to find an excuse to hang out with her. Does she walk home?"  
  
"Yeah, she does," Kaiba recalled.  
  
"Perfect. If you've got some classes with her, ask her afterwards if she'd like a ride home. Just sort of mention on the way that you could stop at a restaurant or a mall or something if she'd like. Then if she had fun, ask if she'd like to meet you sometime during the weekend. See, easy."  
  
"For you maybe, Mr. Social Life," Kaiba muttered.  
  
"Hey, don't complain," he said firmly. "You asked for advice, you got advice. And now..." He edged towards the door. "Time to spread the word!"  
  
"What?!" Kaiba demanded.  
  
"You know that's my word and you've used it twice, right?" Mokuba said over his shoulder.  
  
"Hey, you promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Kaiba said, getting up.  
  
"I crossed my fingers!" he said, laughing wickedly and running down the stairs.  
  
"If you tell, you are _so_ grounded!" Kaiba shouted, taking off after him.  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Thursday morning}  
  
Sitting still through the first class was agony. But just when Kaiba thought it couldn't get any worse, he had to sit through Algebra too. Serenity was so close... Just one row in front and two to the left. He seriously considered just passing her a note and getting it over with, but in the end he decided it wouldn't seem casual enough.  
  
'When most people watch the clock, they're waiting for the class to be over,' he mused, staring attentively at the aforementioned object. 'I'm dreading it. Thanks a lot, Mokuba.'  
  
Finally, to his dismay, the bell rang. He sat for a moment longer, trying to get some courage, and finally forced himself to get up and go over to her.  
  
"Serenity?" he managed to get out, when she didn't notice him right away.  
  
She looked up from her bag, which she was putting stuff back into. "Oh, hi!" She smiled. "You're Seto Kaiba, aren't you? You're so quiet I usually forget I even have the same class as you. Nice to meet you... again." Her smile widened a little as she remembered last Friday.  
  
"Uh, hi," he said, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "Listen, I know you walk home, so I was wondering if, er..." He hesitated.  
  
"What?" she said blankly.  
  
"Hey Serenity!" an overly-cheerful voice called over the din.  
  
"Oh, hey," Serenity greeted the shorter girl who had come over to them.  
  
"Listen, I've been dying to tell you all day, I got the coolest – oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to someone..." She took a closer look at Kaiba. "Hey, you're Seto Kaiba! I'm-"  
  
"Jasmine," Serenity said sternly. "He was trying to ask me something, okay?"  
  
"Oh, sorry," the girl said, looking slightly deflated.  
  
"Anyway, what were you saying?" Serenity asked, turning back to Kaiba.  
  
"Uh, it was nothing, really," he muttered.  
  
"Oh, come on," she coaxed.  
  
"No, really, it was nothing," he assured her, and fled. 'I am so glad I only have one class with her a day; I don't think I could stand two...'  
  
===============================================================  
  
As if that stopped them from seeing each other... He saw her twice in the halls, and each time the girl Jasmine burst into a fit of giggles.  
  
'Great, so it didn't really do any good to keep Mokuba from telling his friends about this,' he thought. 'Now the whole school probably knows...'  
  
At last, after what seemed like eternity, school was almost over. Everyone was headed to their last class – except Kaiba, because he had forgotten something in his locker.  
  
"Hi Kaiba!"  
  
He gasped, almost dropping the combination lock. "Hey Serenity," he said, turning around. "Um, why are you here? Shouldn't you be in class?"  
  
She grinned. "I could ask the exact same of you, you know," she commented. "I forgot something. What about you?"  
  
"Same here."  
  
"Hey," she said thoughtfully, "you wanted to ask me something, didn't you? Something you were too embarrassed to ask in front of Jasmine..." She giggled.  
  
"Uh..." he looked for something to say, but finally had to settle for a plain old, "yeah. I guess."  
  
"Well, what then?" she demanded.  
  
"Um..." 'Damn it, I'm so stupid! Just ask already!' "Well, I know you walk home after school, and I was wondering if you'd like-"  
  
"Kaiba!"  
  
"Joey?" Serenity asked, startled. "Um, hi."  
  
"What?" Kaiba demanded, turning around to glare. He would never admit it, of course, but he was almost grateful the other boy had shown up. He instantly felt more normal – pissed off, in other words.  
  
"What the hell'er you doing?" Joey demanded, glaring right back.  
  
"Talking," he said irritably. "Sorry, I wasn't aware that you didn't approve."  
  
"Why are you here, Joey?" Serenity demanded. "Don't even try to tell me you forgot something too."  
  
"Well, I sorta lost track of time 'cause I was, um, talking to... Mai..." His voice trailed off near the end, and he went red.  
  
"Oh, so puppy _does_ have a girlfriend," Kaiba commented, smirking.  
  
"You just watch it," Joey growled.  
  
"Oh, and what are you going to do?" he said sarcastically. "Bite my ankles? _Please_..."  
  
"Boys!" Serenity said. "Stop it; you're acting like little kids. Why don't you want me talking to him, Joey?"  
  
"He's a jerk!" her brother said. "It might be dangerous to be alone with him; I know for a fact that he never does _anything_ that isn't for him, no matter how much it hurt the other people involve!"  
  
"What are you suggesting, puppy-dog?" he demanded, somewhat surprised. It was Joey, but still... "That I would _rape_ her? Isn't that a bit overly paranoid of you?"  
  
"I wouldn't put it passed you!" Joey said, trying to pull himself up to his full height (which really didn't do much as Kaiba was a head or two taller than him). "And see, just listen to him! He lives for picking on people!"  
  
"Well, I don't know if I'd exactly call you a 'people...'" Kaiba said, sneering and shaking his head.  
  
Joey gritted his teeth. "All right, that's it!" he shouted, lunging at the other.  
  
Serenity stepped between the two, managing to shove Joey hard enough to not only stop him but send him stumbling backwards. Kaiba blinked. "What the hell-?" Joey demanded.  
  
"Knock. It. Off. That simple." She sighed. "Look, if you really want I won't talk to him any more in school, but I want you to leave him alone too. Now, seeing as I'm not going to be able to be part of a reasonable conversation if I stick around here, I think I'd rather not be any later to the last class than I am. See ya."  
  
Kaiba stared after her. "You know, I think you made her a little mad," he commented.  
  
"Eh, shut up," Joey grumbled. "I doubt you care."  
  
"More that you, obviously, if you're not going to go talk to her," he retorted.  
  
"Hey," Joey said accusingly. "Just who do you think you are, thinking you know if my sister's mad or not? I never knew you had enough of a heart to notice something like that, and anyway I think _I_ would know her better that _you_!"  
  
Kaiba laughed rather coldly. "Huh. Not only do you not care enough to go after her when she seems a little mad, but you're also doing exactly what she asked you not to; bothering me. Goodbye, puppy."  
  
He turned to go. Joey stared at him for a moment, then, with an outrage yell he lunged at him again. Kaiba whirled around to face him, however, and caught his wrist.  
  
"Boy," he said, shaking his head. "On top of everything else, you fight dirty." He threw Joey to the floor, and turned away again. "If you'd rather fight then go see your sister, well... _I'll_ go see her."  
  
Joey grunted, standing up painfully. "But didn't you hear her, you jerk?" he demanded. "She seemed willing enough not to talk to you anymore. Fine, since you're so _obsessed_ with her, I'll see if I can find her." He brushed passed the older boy, but paused just before turning the corner at the end of the hall. "And just letting you know, if it weren't for her asking me to leave you alone I'd be beating you up right now for that." He left rather hurriedly.  
  
"Run while you can!" Kaiba called after him, smirking. But one he was gone, his smirk faded. He really didn't have any intention of going after him; it wasn't worth it, even though it was a bit tempting. Besides, that fact that Joey didn't seem to realize he'd gone the wrong way was amusing enough...  
  
===============================================================  
  
Several hours later when he got home, he was, as always, thrown into the door, but this time he was bombarded with questions as well.  
  
"So, did it work?" Mokuba asked. "Of course it worked; how did it go? Does she want to see you again this weekend? Did you go to a really romantic restaurant? Did you kiss her?"  
  
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Re-wind about four questions," he said. "I never got to ask her."  
  
"What?!" Mokuba demanded, shocked. "But... why? You said you had a class with her; how hard could it have been?"  
  
"Hard," he assured him, shrugging off his coat and heading up to his office. "One of her friends came up and started talking her head off. She sounded like she was on the verge of asking for an autograph or something humiliating like that. I'm pretty sure the little brat has spread rumors all over the school by now... And to make matters worse, I tried to talk to her again in the hall but Chihuahua-brain showed up, and we got into a little fight. He made her agree not to talk to me in school again."  
  
"I hope you didn't hurt Joey too bad," Mokuba said reprovingly. "She'd be mad, and anyway he's not really such a bad guy once you get to know him. I talk with him sometimes when I go over to Yugi's to hang out."  
  
"I'll take your word on that one," his older brother said. "But no, he's fine. Just some bruises... Well, you know. He sort of fell."  
  
"Sort of, huh?" Mokuba said, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever. Are you gonna try to ask Serenity out again tomorrow?"  
  
Kaiba frowned. "No," he said, after a minute.  
  
"Why not?" Mokuba demanded.  
  
"Well, she's not supposed to talk to me, after all," he said. "If Joey found out – and he would, too; he usually walks home with her – he'd be mad. At her, as well as me." 'And besides,' he couldn't help but think, 'she seemed pretty willing not to talk to me...'  
  
"I could talk to Joey next time I see him," Mokuba offered.  
  
"No thanks," he said hurriedly. "It might just be better to, uh, give him time to cool down, you know?"  
  
"Oh," the younger boy said knowingly. "Right."  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Friday afternoon, after school}  
  
Serenity smiled, adding the final touches to her makeup. Then she grabbed a note book, ripped out a piece of paper and wrote, 'Am shopping with the girls. Will be back in time for dinner. Love ya, Serenity.'  
  
She paused thoughtfully, then grabbed the phone and dialed Tea's number.  
  
"Hello?" came the voice on the other end.  
  
"Hey, it's Serenity," she said. "Look, I've got something I need to do, so if anyone calls, I'm shopping with you. Okay?"  
  
"Um, okay," Tea said, sounding slightly confused.  
  
"You're the greatest. Could you call Mai for me and tell her the same thing?"  
  
"... Sure," she replied, sounding even more confused.  
  
"Sweet. Bye."  
  
"... Bye..."  
  
She went downstairs and left the note on the kitchen table, and fifteen minutes later she was scanning the buildings downtown in the business area.  
  
"Ah, there it is!" she said triumphantly, to herself. "Kaiba Corp..." 'So what if I can't talk to him in school? I am _not_ going to rest until I know what's up with him...'  
  
===============================================================  
  
**SR**: [sweatdrop] Dang, Kaiba is so OOC in this fic... But you guys don't mind, right? Right? [multiple sweatdrops] Well, I hope you liked it (enough to review) anyway :) Lots o' love, ya'll - though not in a creepy way O.O ........XD One word: sugar. Sugar, my pressssious... 


	3. The Rarity of Limousines

**Disclaimer**: Yes, I do own Yu-gi-oh, and all the characters in this fic. Mwuhahaha! Just kidding, just kidding! Ahhhh! [is sued into oblivion]  
  
**SR**: Alright, next chapie! [sweatdrop] I, um, said something about posting this 'fast,' didn't I? Wah, I'm so sorry! I'm just... sooooo... lazy... ZZZzzzzz... Wha, uh, hi, oh, I'm not fall asleep, really!!! Now, the next question is, should I...? Or should I not...? Oh, I can't resist. I just _have_ to tease ya'll: not this chapter, and probably not the next, but _defiantly_ the one after is where the plot gets _really_ interesting. Okay, correction, it actually starts to develop a plot... Oooooh, I am so evil! [sweatdrop] [hides]  
  
=============================================================== **Chapter Three**: The Rarity of Limousines ===============================================================  
  
{Friday afternoon, after school}  
  
The intercom beeped, and Kaiba nearly jumped out of his skin.  
  
He had just finally gotten himself interested in his work (in other words, he had just gotten himself to stop thinking about Serenity), and now someone was interrupting him?! "What?" he snapped, pressing the 'talk' button. "This had better be important; I'm very busy at the moment."  
  
"That's what I tried to tell her sir; I did!" came the exceptionally worried voice of his secretary. "But she wouldn't listen!"  
  
"Who?" Kaiba demanded.  
  
A voice said something in the background, the secretary said, "She says her name's Serenity Wheeler, and you know her from school. She says she has something very important to ask you. I have no idea how she got here, but now she's here and she insists that I let her into-"  
  
"You're babbling," Kaiba said dryly, sounding completely calm though inside he was shocked. Serenity? Here?! But why...? And hadn't she promised her brother...?  
  
There was a moment of silence, and Kaiba could almost see the secretary looking flustered and trying to compose herself. "Wh-what do you want me to do with her, sir?" she finally asked.  
  
Kaiba frowned. 'Ah, the million-dollar question,' he thought. He desperately wanted to see her, and he couldn't even get close at school, with Joey watching her like a hawk. But on the other hand, what could she possibly want? Maybe to tell him off for knocking her brother down and making fun of him? But why couldn't she just do that at school? Maybe she didn't want to cause a scene... But coming to his office was a bit on the extreme side... Now, Tea might do that, but not Serenity.  
  
Finally he sighed, and pressed the talk button again. "Let her in if she wants."  
  
"Um, okay," the secretary said, sounding rather puzzled that he didn't want her thrown out immediately.  
  
"But tell her she'd better make it quick," he added.  
  
A few moments later, Serenity opened the door. "Hey," she said cheerfully.  
  
"Hi," Kaiba said cautiously. "What do you want?"  
  
She was quiet for a moment, walking over to one of the windows. Suddenly she turned, and she looked a lot more serious. "What is up with you?" she demanded. She didn't sound mad, exactly, but very curious.  
  
Kaiba blinked. "What do you mean, what is 'up' with me?" he asked, though he knew what she meant.  
  
"You know what I mean," she said, seeming to read his mind. "Why did you just suddenly come out of nowhere and decide to talk to me yesterday? You never talk to anyone. And why did you get in that fight with Joey over me? I heard the whole thing, you know."  
  
He stared at her. "You... heard the whole thing?" he managed to say.  
  
"Oh, yeah," she said, shrugging. "I stood right around the corner; you two thought I was gone. But anyway, you're avoiding my question. What is up with you?"  
  
"I was, uh, just trying to be nice, you know?" he muttered, fully aware of the fact that he was lying.  
  
"Oh," she said, and went quiet again, turning to stare out the window some more.  
  
"What?" he demanded defensively. "What did you expect?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, I guess," she said. She sounded cheerful enough, but now it sounded a little... artificial. "I guess I should be going..." She started to walk towards the door.  
  
"Wait!" Kaiba said, startling both of them. He cleared his throat. "Uh, wait. About yesterday. I was trying to ask you something, remember? I noticed that you walk home, so I was wondering if you'd like a ride sometime... In the limo, um..." He hurriedly turned back to the computer and did a few pointless things while he waited for himself to stop blushing.  
  
Serenity stared at him for a moment, then grinned hugely. He didn't seem to realize that she could see his reflection in the computer screen... "Sure!" she said. "That would be great. We'd have to be careful my brother doesn't see though; oooh, would he be mad... Oh well. Monday, then?"  
  
Kaiba's mouth fell open. 'It was that easy?!' he thought. 'Mokuba, you're amazing...' "Okay," he choked.  
  
"See you soon, then," she said, and started towards the door again.  
  
"Hey, one other thing," he said hurriedly, turning to face her. The truth was he just wanted her to stay a little longer, but he _did_ have another question. "About your brother... Didn't you promise him that you wouldn't talk to me anymore?"  
  
She giggled. "No I didn't; don't you remember?" she said matter-of- factly. "I promised him I wouldn't talk to you anymore _in school_. We're not _in school_, now are we? See ya!"  
  
He stared after her, slowly starting to grin. He had a feeling the weekend was _really_ going to drag...  
  
===============================================================  
  
"Big brother!" Mokuba exclaimed, barreling into him as usual. Then he frowned. "Hey," he said suspiciously, "you're grinning. That's scary."  
  
Kaiba laughed. "Vicious," he commented. "But yes, I am."  
  
"Why?" he demanded.  
  
"You," Kaiba declared, "are a genius. You must get it from me... Anyway, I'm going to be driving Serenity home tomorrow."  
  
"Perfect! How'd you talk her into it? I thought she promised her brother she wasn't going to talk to you in school..."  
  
"Well, as she would put it, 'we weren't _in school_,'" he said, laughing again. "She came to _my office_; I think it scared my secretary..."  
  
"Wow," Mokuba said, in awe. "Why'd she do that?"  
  
He shook his head. "I don't know really. I mean, I know what she wanted, but I don't know why she was so desperate that she had to come to my office. She wanted to know 'what was up with me;' why I was acting so awkward around her."  
  
"Did you tell her you love her?" Mokuba asked mischievously.  
  
"No!" Kaiba said, embarrassed.  
  
"Well, you have to tell her _sometime_," Mokuba pointed out.  
  
"I guess so," he said doubtfully.  
  
"What do you mean, 'you guess so?'" Mokuba demanded.  
  
"Well, it's just that..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, think seriously about this for a minute: Can you _really_ see _me_ telling a girl that I love her?"  
  
Mokuba thought for a moment. "No," he finally said, shaking his head.  
  
Kaiba groaned. "You're so supportive," he said sarcastically.  
  
The younger boy snickered. "Hey, you said it, not me," he pointed out.  
  
===============================================================  
  
When Serenity got home, she felt happier than she had in a long time. There was just something about that Kaiba... She smiled, thinking about how cute he was when he was embarrassed as she dialed Tea's number. She was going to let her know she didn't have to cover for her anymore, but the line was busy. She called Mai instead.  
  
"Hello?" the older girl said.  
  
"Hey Mai," Serenity said happily.  
  
"Am I off 'shopping duty' now?" she said, a touch of dry humor in her voice.  
  
"Yeah. Hey, sorry about that; I had something really important to do. Thanks a lot."  
  
"What was it, anyway?" Mai asked, trying to sound casual.  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Were you _visiting_ someone? A certain millionaire CEO, perhaps? I don't want to name names, of course." Mai grinned as Serenity made unintelligible noises on the other end.  
  
"How'd you guess?" she finally said, miserable. "_Please_ don't say you've told Joey..."  
  
"Wouldn't dream of it. And, well, it wasn't me who guessed, actually," Mai admitted. "It was Yugi. Me and him – and Tea and Bakura as well – were talking earlier, and we all agreed that you two were acting awfully suspicious. When you called Tea earlier she called us, and Yugi figured you were going to see him. So, how long have you been going out?"  
  
Serenity blushed furiously. "We're not going out!" she said firmly. She paused. "I did go and see him though. I just had to ask him something; I swear."  
  
"_Right_," Mai said. "Whatever you say..."  
  
"Mai!" Serenity complained.  
  
Mai laughed. "All right, I'll stop. But seriously, I think – and the others agree – that you'd make a cute couple. Kaiba acts different around you... Nicer."  
  
Serenity's eyes widened. "Re-really?" she asked quietly. "_All_ of you think so?"  
  
"Yup. Even Tea agrees. So... Do you like him?"  
  
"Uh..." She hesitated. "Yeah," she finally whispered, as though she was afraid someone would hear.  
  
"Are you gonna try and go on a date with him sometime?" she pressed.  
  
"Well... Since you know so much already..." Serenity smiled wryly. "I might as well tell you. He's driving me home in his limo on Monday. Don't tell Joey, though, please?"  
  
"How cute!" Mai gushed. "And of course I won't; lord, he'd be mad. And I'll be sure not to tell Tristian either; he has that major crush on you, after all."  
  
"Thanks... Really. I'm so glad all of you think it's such a good idea."  
  
"Don't mention it," Mai said, waving her hand expressively even though the other girl couldn't see it. "Anyway, I've _got_ to go tell the others now!"  
  
Serenity laughed. "You live for gossip, don't you?" she said, sweatdropping.  
  
"Defiantly," Mai said enthusiastically.  
  
"Bye," Serenity said, shaking her head in amusement.  
  
"Bu-bye!"  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Monday afternoon}  
  
Kaiba had been right; the weekend was torturous. It seemed at least twice as long as it really was, to both of them.  
  
Finally, Monday arrived. Sitting through the classes was almost as bad, thought they at least got to see each other a few times. But the last class rolled around eventually.  
  
After it was over, the massive student body began to pour out the front doors. "Oops!" Serenity said suddenly, pretending to look annoyed.  
  
"What?" Joey asked, looking over at her curiously.  
  
"Darn it; I think I left something behind," she said, shaking her head at her own 'clumsiness.' "I'd better go back and get it."  
  
"Okay," Joey said, nodding. "I'll come with."  
  
"No, that's okay," she assured him. "Actually, I was thinking of going to, um, Mai's for a little bit, so it'd be in the other direction anyway. You go ahead."  
  
"Well, all right," he agreed. "Catch ya later."  
  
She grinned, waving to him as she headed back inside. Then she stood off to one side, waiting for all the students to leave.  
  
After about fifteen minutes, it seemed like she was the only person in the building. She sighed in relief, and went outside and down the school's front walkway to where the limo was waiting.  
  
Kaiba smile, waiting for her. 'She's so nice...' he thought. 'And beautiful... Especially in that skirt; it's pretty short...' He went a little red, trying to shake off those particular thoughts.  
  
"Hi!" she said when she got to the bottom of the walk. "You're looking a little red; are you okay?"  
  
"Um, yeah," he said, willing himself to stay calm. "Just a little, uh, hot."  
  
"Really?" she said skeptically. "Funny, I thought it was sort of cold today... In fact, they're calling for snow in about a week. But oh well, I think you're hot too...."  
  
He went much, much redder at this comment, causing her to break down into a fit of laughter as she got into the limo.  
  
"Ha, I got you!" she said triumphantly.  
  
He groaned, getting in next to her. "You're as bad as Mokuba," he accused.  
  
"Who's that?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Oh, my little brother," he explained. "He has tutors; otherwise he'd be in our school this year."  
  
"So he's ten?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, ten... And already capable of almost knocking me over..." She laughed again.  
  
During the ride, they talked about all sorts of thing in between Serenity giving the driver instructions on how to get to her place. Kaiba told her about his work, and about Mokuba, and she talked about how much better her life had gotten since the eye operation. It seemed like it was over far too soon.  
  
"Stop here," she instructed the drive at a corner. "My house is actually around the turn and down the street," she added to Kaiba, "but Joey's is just a few more down, and I don't want his seeing us. Limos aren't exactly common."  
  
He smiled at her, feeling a little sad that she had to go. "Yeah, I know," he said wryly. "It's a bit inconvenient sometimes, believe me... Hey, do you, um, want me to give you a ride tomorrow? Maybe we could stop someplace, if you told your brother you were going to do some shopping or something..."  
  
She smiled widely. "Sure," she agreed.  
  
There was a moment of slightly uncomfortable silence. Then, without warning, Serenity leaned over and kissed him deeply. For a moment he was too shocked to do anything, then he returned it, deepening it.  
  
After maybe a minute, she finally pulled away. "See you tomorrow," she said, sounding slightly out of breath, and finally got out of the limo.  
  
"One word about this, and you are fired," Kaiba managed to inform the drive, through a haze of happiness.  
  
===============================================================  
  
**SR**: What a cute ending! I amaze myself sometimes; what can I say? Hehe... Yes, I am very vain, aren't I? But oh well, I enjoy every second of it... Anyway, please review!!!! I'll give getting the next chapter up in a decent time another go – though I wouldn't hold your breath; I'm very unpredictable sometimes... [grins like the manic I am] 


	4. Pure White Snow

**Disclaimer**: Mwuhahaha (I seem to do that a lot, don't I?)! You want to know what's so funny? Do you? Since you sued me into oblivion in the last chapter, you can't sue me any more! I claim bankruptcy! Wahoo! All right, all right... I do not own Yu-gi-oh (very robotic voice). Happy now?  
  
**SR**: O.O Wow... [blush] I feel loved! Okay, so I got four reviews on chapter one... and five reviews on chapter two... and ten on the last chapter! [glomps reviewers] Yay! I may just get back the 45 reviews I used to have :) Well... I'm afraid to say, I won't be able to get chapter five up this fast T.T Yeah, like usual, but for once I have an actual excuse! I'm going on a trip with my mum up to Michigan :) Alas, I won't be back till next Tuesday or something like that [sweatdrop] But I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as I can after I get back! And as an added bonus, you get an extra-long, pointlessly fluffy chapter to tide ya over! Seriously, this thing is two chapters long; what was I thinking? [sweatdrop]  
  
===============================================================

**Chapter Four**: Pure White Snow

===============================================================  
  
{Tuesday afternoon}  
  
"Hi," Kaiba greeted Serenity as she came up after school the next day.  
  
"Hey," she muttered, hugging him. He stiffened for just an instant, startled, then brushed his lips against her forehead. She grinned, and kissed him on the lips, pushing him into the limo door. Finally, needing air rather badly, they broke apart and got in. They sat closer than they had the day before, Serenity leaning against him.  
  
"So, where are we going?" she asked, after a minute of comfortable quite. "We have plenty of time. I told my brother me and Mai and Tea were planning on some serious shopping, so he figures I won't be getting home till after dark; he won't be looking for me."  
  
"It's up to you, really," he said. "I was thinking this one Italian restaurant though; as I remember they have some really good food."  
  
She snickered. "I like it," she agreed. "It sounds like a really official date-ish sort of thing, you know?"  
  
To her surprise, he just smiled. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?"  
  
===============================================================  
  
The figure watching from the school window stared after the limo long after it had disappeared, mouth hanging open, in a state of dazed rage. 'How dare he...! How dare she...!' He didn't know who to be angry at first. 'How dare...!'  
  
===============================================================  
  
After a little bit of driving, they arrived at the restaurant. "Wow!" Serenity commented, taking it all in.  
  
"You like it?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"It's... huge!" she replied, for lack of a better word. "After being here, I'm surprised that you let yourself be seen anywhere _near_ that pizza place..."  
  
"I was too, trust me..."  
  
"Hey!" she said, glowering good-naturedly.  
  
A waiter found them a table, well place with a good view of the lake behind the restaurant, and with a candle in the center of it. They ordered their meals and ate, talking and eating at intervals. Kaiba had indeed remembered correctly; the food was wonderful.  
  
About an hour later, after dessert, Kaiba finally paid for it and they headed to the door. "We should do this more often," Serenity said contentedly.  
  
"We can do it every day, if you can find enough excuses to give your brother," Kaiba purred as they got into the car.  
  
Serenity was silent for a minute. "Anything the matter?" he asked curiously.  
  
"Just thinking," she said.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"About how _wrong_ that sounded, a minute ago," she confessed, then laughed till her stomach started to hurt. He groaned.  
  
"You're sick-minded, do you know that?" he demanded.  
  
"I know," she said, playing with his hair.  
  
By the time they were halfway to her house, Serenity had fallen asleep; it was late and having eaten so much was having its affect. Kaiba held her close, feeling drowsy himself. When they finally got to the corner, he sighed. "Serenity," he said quietly.  
  
"Hmm..." she said sleepily, her eyes fluttering open. When she saw him, she smiled. "Are we there already? Darn..."  
  
"My feelings exactly," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her. She let him deepen it, and he almost pushed her down onto the seat but thought better of it.  
  
"See you tomorrow, I guess," she said when they finally separated and she climbed out of the car.  
  
As she walked to her house, she hummed softly and tunelessly. Seto was so perfect... She smiled, realizing that for the first time she was thinking of him by his first name. And she had total support of four of her friends, anyway... She was sure she could make Joey and even Tristian understand eventually too.  
  
Her happy mood was abruptly shattered when she saw who was waiting in the front room of her house. "Joey?" she said uncertainly; he looked pissed.  
  
"Hi Serenity!" he said, falsely cheerful. Their mom who was in the room raised an eyebrow; she had heard the artificialness. "You wanna go up to your room? I have something I want to ask you."  
  
"Um, okay..." she said, her unease growing. Joey was mad at her about something, and she had a sickening feeling about what it might be...  
  
As soon as he closed the door after them, all traces of cheerfulness disappeared. "You lied to me," he stated. "How long has this been going on?"  
  
"Wh-what?" she faltered.  
  
He took a deep breath. "Look, sis, I don't wanna be mad at you. But I am! You know what I'm talking about. You lied to me – twice, actually; once about not talking to Kaiba anymore, and again about going shopping with Mai and them. And who knows how many other times besides!"  
  
Serenity sat down on her bed, willing herself not to cry. She felt so guilty... 'Well,' she thought bitterly, 'I _tried_ not to think about how hurt Joey would be. Looks like I did a pretty damn good job of it...' "I'm sorry," she choked. "I'm so sorry..."  
  
Joey softened; it was just too much to see his little sister on the verge of tears. "Don't cry, man," he said, sitting down next to her.  
  
She did anyway, but started laughing through them. "I'm not a man!" she sniffed.  
  
Joey grinned. "Dude, then." She swatted him playfully. "Dudett?"  
  
She shuddered. "Lame alert; I'd rather be a dude."  
  
"All right, all right," he said, holding up his hands in mock defeat.  
  
"Look," she said, rubbing her eyes on the back of her hands. "I'm really, really sorry I've been... seeing Kaiba... behind your back."  
  
"It's okay," he said gruffly. "I guess... But how long have you been going out with him, seriously?"  
  
She blushed a little. "Well, tonight was our first real date," she admitted. "He drove me home Monday too."  
  
"Hmm..." he said, and was silent for a minute. "Do you love him?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"Yes," she said, startling herself with her own firmness. "And hey, how'd you find out, anyway?"  
  
"Well... I was gonna go, but I saw Mai and Tea walking off and you said you were going with them. So I went back in the school to look for you, and... well..."  
  
"Oh." There was silence for a minute.  
  
"Mai and them... They say I've been being too 'overprotective' of you," he admitted suddenly. "And they're right; I saw you two, um, well... When he picked you up, you know? He really does seem different when he's around you. I think he loves you too."  
  
She smiled a little in spite of herself. "You really think so?" she said hopefully.  
  
"Yeah," he said.  
  
"So... you're okay with us going out together?" she asked hesitantly.  
  
He snorted. "No way! But," he added, grinning at her expression, "if you love each other that much then I guess I can _allow_ it. In fact, I see it as a useful opportunity. Maybe if you two were a couple, he might stop calling me a puppy..."  
  
She snickered. "I'll see if I can talk to him about it," she said, smiling. Suddenly she hugged him. "You are such an awesome brother," she declared.  
  
He grinned. "You too."  
  
"HEY!" she exclaimed. "Are you calling me a guy again?!"  
  
"Me? Never!" he said, dodging around the door just in time to miss being hit by a large airborne pillow. "Hey, listen," he said, once safe. "I'll catch you tomorrow. It's late and I gotta get home."  
  
"Later," she said, laughing as she picked up the pillow. As soon as that was done, however, she picked up the phone and dialed Kaiba's number.  
  
"He-hello?" a young voice said on the other end, after a few rings. There was a scream in the background that sounded suspiciously like a video game, and the boy said, "Aw darn, I died. Uh, who is this?"  
  
"Serenity Wheeler," she started, but she never got to finish her sentence. "Is Kaiba home ye-"  
  
"SETO!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs. "It's your GIRLFRIEND!" In the background, she heard someone, presumably Kaiba, shouted something about, "... give it here...!" "Nope!" the boy said gleefully. "Come and get it!" There was some pounding, like someone running, then a crash like one – or two – people falling, another crash which made her wonder if the phone was broken, and some distant shouts.  
  
"Finally!" Kaiba suddenly gasped into the phone. "Mokuba, no – hey! – let go! Gerroff! Ow!" There was the sound of something, or someone more likely, being dragged across the floor, and a door slammed. Someone instantly started pounding on it, from the sounds of things, but it grew more distant as Kaiba walked away. "Serenity?" he said cautiously. "You there?"  
  
"Yes," she said, giggling. "I take it I've met Mokuba?"  
  
"Yes," he said darkly. "That boy needs a babysitter or something, I swear... So anyway, what's up? Hey, how'd you get my number?"  
  
"Internet," she said dismissively. "Last night. It was hard to find, but I got it eventually. Anyway, I wanted to tell you something. About Joey..."  
  
"What?" Kaiba said, worried. "Does he know?"  
  
"Yup," she confirmed. "And... He's okay with it!"  
  
"Really?" he said, shocked. "Now that's something I never suspected..."  
  
"Oh, by the way, Mai, Tea, Bakura and Yugi are okay with it too," she added.  
  
"Amazing..." he said, shaking his head in awe. "I thought they hated me."  
  
"I guess not," she said, shrugging. "Now there's just..."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Tristian," she explained. "He has a mega crush on me. He used to visit me all the time when I was still in the hospital and stuff. Man, I need to call Joey and warn him not to tell him anything; he'll probably be upset..."  
  
"Ask her when I can start calling her 'sis'" Mokuba's voice shouted in the background. Kaiba groaned.  
  
"How'd you get in here?" he demanded.  
  
"Picked the lock, of course!" his brother said proudly.  
  
"Look," Kaiba said regretfully, "you should call your brother now. It appears I've got my own to deal with at the moment..."  
  
"'K," she said. "I love you."  
  
There was silence of the other end for a moment. "Love you too," he said, and hung up – though not so fast that Serenity didn't here the beginning of a joyful evil laugh from Mokuba... She smiled, lying back in bed and letting his words sink in completely before dialing her brother... Then Mai (to tell her how the date went and about her brother)... Then Tea... And so on.  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Friday afternoon}  
  
Over the next couple days, they made a habit of going out together after school. They went to the park for a little while on Wednesday because it was warm, to the mall on Thursday (Kaiba bought Serenity an expensive sweater, and she kissed him right there in the store), and on Friday they went to the restaurant again.  
  
On the way to Serenity's house afterwards, they talked a little. "So, where _do_ you live, anyway?" she asked curiously.  
  
"We'll be passing it in just a minute, actually," he replied. "I'll point it out to you."  
  
"Hey, um... Could I come in for a minute?" she said quietly. "To, um, meet Mokuba, you know?"  
  
He smiled. "Of course. I should warn you, though; he might knock you over, or try to anyway..."  
  
She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind," she assured him.  
  
"Hey, big brother!" Mokuba greeted, hugging him as usual. "You're home ear- oooh!" He had caught sight of Serenity, and now he grinned mischievously. "Are you Serenity?" he asked.  
  
"Yup," she said. "You must be Mokuba."  
  
"Uh-huh," he agreed, and hugged her too. Kaiba mouthed, "I warned you!" over his head, and she laughed.  
  
"So, do you want any coco or tea or something?" Kaiba asked. "It's freezing out there."  
  
"Coco sounds good," she agreed, and the two brothers lead her to the kitchen. A few minutes later all three of them were sitting around the kitchen table and drinking while talking. Serenity and Mokuba became friends instantly.  
  
It wasn't till about a half hour later (the coco was long finished by then) that Serenity glanced up at a clock. "Aw man," she groaned.  
  
"Huh?" Kaiba said, then saw where she was looking, and groaned as well. "Ten?!" he exclaimed. "Man, it's late..."  
  
"I'm gonna be in trouble," she sighed. "I'm supposed to be home by nine-thirty... Pathetic, I know... But mom might be mad."  
  
"I'd better get you back," Kaiba said, standing up. "I'll be home soon, okay Mokuba?" He nodded, and the other two headed to the door.  
  
"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble," Kaiba said guiltily, just before they went out.  
  
She smiled. "Na, it was worth it," she assured him. "Anyway, I did it once before, when I was over at Mai's, and I just got yelled at a little."  
  
"But still-" he protested.  
  
"Oh, hush," she said, kissing him lightly. "I love you... Seto... So it's worth it."  
  
He blinked when she called him 'Seto;' it was the first time she'd called him that. He decided he liked it, and smile.  
  
Then they opened the door.  
  
Bad idea. The freezing wind blew a light dusting of snow in on them before they even managed to get it closed again.  
  
"Where the hell did that come from?" Kaiba said, staring at the door. "We just came in half an hour ago, and it was fine then..."  
  
"I remember now," she said thoughtfully. "I saw on TV on Monday that it was supposed to do this tonight... Inches, they were calling for, and all at once..."  
  
"Hey, aren't you guys gone yet?" Mokuba hollered from the kitchen.  
  
"Nope," Serenity said as they went back in. "There's a slight problem..."  
  
"This," Kaiba demonstrated, pulling open the blinds on one of the kitchen windows. Mokuba's eyes went wide.  
  
"Geez, _check_ it _out_!" he said enthusiastically. "You already can't see the road... Hey," he added slyly, "I guess that means you'll be staying the night, Serenity."  
  
There was a moment of extreme discomfort.  
  
"There are _several_ bedrooms," Kaiba said, more at Mokuba that at Serenity, "so I'm sure we can find you one... You might want to call your mom sometime though."  
  
"Um, yeah," she said, still trying not to think about what Mokuba had hinted at. "Where's a phone?"  
  
She made two phone calls, one to her mom and one to Tea, to ask her to cover for her _again_. Her mom scolded her, but agreed that she could stay (at Tea's), since it would be dangerous to try and drive home in the snow. After that the three of them hung out in the kitchen for a little while longer, having another round of coco. It wasn't until around eleven that Mokuba began to look sleepy.  
  
He yawned hugely, and Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "All right, squirt, time for bed," he said firmly.  
  
"But Seto, I'm not tired," he insisted. "Really." He yawned again, trying in vain to stop it.  
  
"_Right_," he said sarcastically. "Bed."  
  
"Oh all right," he muttered mutinously, getting up.  
  
"Promise you'll go to bed and stay there?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"Darn..." he complained. "All right, I promise." He sighed with exaggerated longness, and headed upstairs.  
  
"What about you?" Kaiba asked, turning back to Serenity. "You tired?"  
  
"Maybe a little," she said. "You mentioned something about a bedroom?"  
  
"Yeah; follow me." He led her through a few halls, till they got to one with three doors. "You can sleep in this one," he said, gesturing to the one closest to them. "I'm in the one right down the hall from it."  
  
"What's in the other one?" she asked curiously. She noticed that, while the other two doorknobs were polished, the brass on the third one was dusty.  
  
He winced, as if the very mention of it hurt. "Um... It was... My step dad's." He winced again. "I don't use it now."  
  
She studied his face, and decided not to pursue the subject.  
  
"So, which bedroom did you say, again?" she asked, pretending she hadn't noticed anything. "This one?"  
  
He nodded, opening the door and turning on the light for her. "Nice," she commented. "The bed's huge; what do you usually use this room for?"  
  
He shrugged. "Nothing, usually. When Mokuba's friends come over one might sleep down here once in a while, but that's it really." He stood just inside the doorway, feeling a little awkward while she took a look around.  
  
Suddenly she turned around, and caught him in a deep kiss. "Well, you must not see it very often then," she said impishly. "Maybe you'd like to stay a minute?"  
  
He stared at her wonderingly. Usually she seemed so calm and... distant. But every once in a while, she'd go and surprise him like this. 'Maybe that's why I love her,' he though, and grinned. "Sure, why not?" he agreed.  
  
In one motion, she grabbed his hand and turned off the light, dragging him over to the bed. He laughed. "You're in a hurry, aren't you?" he teased.  
  
"Uh-huh," she said cheerfully, and pulled him onto the bed, next to her. He rolled his eyes, and kissed her passionately.  
  
Almost of its own accord, his hand explored up her side, and across her breasts. He had noticed before that she seemed to have a beautiful figure, but he had never noticed... this much. She moaned in pleasure as he trailed kisses down her jaw and neck, pausing at her collar bone to unbutton her shirt.  
  
"Do you want to... hmm..." She moaned again.  
  
He hesitated, drawing back a little. She hadn't been able to finish her sentence, but he knew what she meant... He knew he wanted to, but at the same time...  
  
"Huh?" she asked, feeling him suddenly stop moving.  
  
"I-" he started, frowning. He wanted to, but those memories... He shuddered.  
  
"What's the matter?" she asked, sounding concerned.  
  
"Look..." He sighed, and rolled off of her and on to his back. "I – I do, but... You have to understand, it's nothing to do with you. Something happened, a long time ago... I can't talk about it right now. But I... I just don't think I'm ready..."  
  
She was quiet for a moment. "I understand," she said quietly, finding his hand in the darkness and holding it. He smiled. This human contact was strange; he had denied himself of it for so long... But he felt like this girl might just be the person to heal him, to make him whole again. She leaned over then to give him a deep, loving kiss, and he pulled her close again. Well, maybe they could stay up a little longer...  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Saturday morning}  
  
11:00 o'clock, he read. Kaiba groaned. He had been planning to get some work done, but according to the clock across the room, he had already blown the whole morning.  
  
He glanced down at the figure sleeping in his arms, and smiled a little. 'Oh, forget it,' he thought dismissively. He decided he might as well blow the whole day; it would be worth it.  
  
'And besides,' he added, his smile turning into a smirk, 'I have the most wonderful woman in the whole world with me right now... Without a shirt on... Surely that's better than work.' Yes, they had wound up staying up for quite a bit; perhaps they'd gone farther than he'd intended... but strangely, he wasn't as bothered by that as he though he would be... He wondered idly whether they'd woken Mokuba up...  
  
"Hmm..." Serenity's eyes fluttered open, and when she looked up at him she started snickering. "Nice view," she said, in reference to the shirt that he was also missing.  
  
"Likewise," he said wryly, and she blushed a little. "You really are sick-minded; that's the _first_ thing you think to say, even before 'good morning...'"  
  
She giggled. "Fine, fine; _good morning_." She wiggled a little closer to him. "I love you Seto," she whispered.  
  
"I love you to," he said, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair.  
  
After a few minutes, she groaned. "What?" Kaiba asked, surprised.  
  
"I'm hungry," she admitted. "But I don't wanna get up. Ug..."  
  
"I could get you something," he offered.  
  
"Na," she said, shaking her head. "Because if you got up, I wouldn't care if I was in bed or not."  
  
"We could both get up..."  
  
She snickered again. "Listen to us; 'Getting Up: By Committee. Let's just get up already."  
  
After they managed to find their shirts, they went out to the kitchen again to find Mokuba already awake and drinking some more coco.  
  
"Morning!" he said perkily. "Man, you guys slept in _late_! You were making a _lot_ of noise last night; it was hard to get to sleep..."  
  
"Are you ever going to stop teasing us about this?" Kaiba demanded seriously.  
  
"Maybe when you're married; it'll be old then..." Kaiba groaned. "Oh hey," he continued, turning to Serenity. "I just remembered; someone called for you earlier this morning. Said her name was Mai Valentine. She mentioned something about this guy called Tristian, and asked me to have you call her as soon as you woke up... What'd I say?" Mokuba blinked, staring after them; both Serenity and Kaiba had taken off towards the phone.  
  
"Mai?" Serenity blurted, before the other girl could even finish saying hello. Kaiba leaned over so he could hear, interested.  
  
"Serenity?" Mai said, startled. "Whew, I thought you'd _never_ call... Late night?" There was a bit of mischief in the last remark.  
  
"Yeah..." she said, embarrassed. "Hey, how'd you know I was at Kaiba's? Did Tea tell you?"  
  
"Yup," Mai agreed. "Look, let me be blunt. Tristian knows about you and Kaiba."  
  
Serenity groaned. "That's what I thought, from what Mokuba said," she said dismally. "How'd he find out? Is he mad?"  
  
"One question at a time," Mai said firmly. "First of all, he found out because he called Tea. He called your mom last night because he wanted to talk to you, and she said you were at Tea's. He called Tea, and she sort of had to tell him you were there. She told him you were busy, but unfortunately he figured out that she was lying because she was trying so hard to get him off. And apparently we're not the only one's who've noticed how cute you and Kaiba have been being lately; when she wouldn't tell him where you really were that was the first thing he guessed, and... It all sort of came out from there." She took a deep breath. And another one. "So, now you know. And as to whether he's mad, well... He won't answer his phone, and he told us to go away when we went to his house. So, yeah."  
  
Serenity sighed. "Great," she muttered. "Do you think I should go try and talk to him, or just wait for school on Monday?"  
  
"School," Mai said firmly. "I have no idea how close Kaiba's house – or mansion, I'm assuming; you lucky girl – is to Tristian's place, but unless it's right next door I wouldn't try it in this weather."  
  
She sighed a second time. "You're right," she admitted. "Well, I guess I should go..."  
  
"Yes, you wouldn't want to keep your boyfriend _waiting_, now would you? If you know what I _mean_..." Mai snickered.  
  
"Ug; Mai!" she groaned.  
  
"Hey, just trying to lighten the mood; that's all," she said defensively.  
  
"Well, it's not that," she said, grinning in spite of herself. "It's just... he's listening to this."  
  
"Um... Bu-bye!" There was a very abrupt click, and Kaiba laughed.  
  
"That was priceless," he said, trying to get his breath back.  
  
"Oh, stop," she said, rolling her eyes. "This is kind of serious."  
  
"Yeah," he agreed. "But really, I wouldn't let it bother you too much. If it was just a crush – which it probably was – then he'll get over it. If he actually did love you, well, he ought to realize that the best way for him to show it is to let you be happy."  
  
"Man, and when this started you were getting all your advice from me..." Mokuba commented from the doorway, taking a big bite out of a poptart.  
  
Kaiba jumped, and Serenity glowered accusingly at him. "Is that so?" she said thoughtfully.  
  
"Um..." He looked at her, then his brother. "I'll be right back," he said hurriedly, and took off after the younger boy. Serenity cracked up.  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Monday morning}  
  
Despite the prospect of having to talk to Tristian on Monday, Serenity still managed to have fun the rest of the weekend. Later that day they went to the park where Mokuba started a snowball fight by throwing one at the back of his brother's head (somehow, he won), and while the snow was cleared enough for Serenity to go home by the end of the day, she came back on Sunday just to hang out for a little.  
  
But it was Monday soon enough. She was almost happy that she didn't see Tristian until the last class of the morning, but it would actually have been better if she had gone looking for him... Seeing as she was talking to Kaiba in the hall when they noticed each other.  
  
"Oh..." she said miserably, as Tristian looked away appearing to be twice as unhappy as when he first looked at her.  
  
"What?" Kaiba said blankly.  
  
"Him," she said simply, pointing.  
  
"_Oh_," he said.  
  
"Copycat," she accused, laughing.  
  
He glanced up to see if Tristian was watching (he wasn't), then quickly kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck," he said.  
  
She smirked. "And I though you would _never_ willingly kiss me in public," she commented.  
  
He groaned. "Yeah, yeah; rub it in... Hey, since when did _you_ smirk?"  
  
"I don't know," she said, faking thoughtfulness. "Maybe I've been hanging out with you too much..."  
  
"Oh, go talk to him," he said, laughing a little.  
  
She walked up to him, hesitating just an instant before tapping him on the shoulder. "Uh, Tristian?" she said.  
  
"Huh...? Oh, hi." He gave her a half-hearted sort of smile.  
  
"Look, could we go somewhere, to, um, talk for a minute?" she asked uncomfortably.  
  
"O...kay," he said skeptically.  
  
A few minutes later they managed to find an empty classroom. Tristian sat down at one of the desks, refusing to meet her eyes.  
  
"You're mad about me and Kaiba, aren't you?" Serenity asked quietly.  
  
He was silent for a minute. "Yeah, a little," he admitted. "That, and the fact that I was apparently the very last one to know..."  
  
She winced. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just... We knew you'd be upset; I didn't want to hurt you."  
  
He stood up again and paced back and forth, still not looking at her. "Well, you did," he finally said. She winced again. "But... If you two really are as happy as you look... I guess I can let it go." He sat back down again, as if just saying that had been tiring.  
  
Her eyes widened. "You mean it?" she demanded.  
  
"Yeah," he admitted. "In fact, I'm happy for you."  
  
She hugged him around the neck, making him go red. "Thanks," she said sincerely.  
  
"You're welcome," he muttered, trying to fix his hair.  
  
"Now I have just one question," she said, grinning and folding her arms.  
  
"Huh?" he said blankly.  
  
"Just how much hair gel _do_ you use every day? I've always wondered..."  
  
"Hey!" he said, making a face.  
  
"I gotta go," she said finally, once she managed to stop laughing. "The cafeteria calls..."  
  
He shuddered. "Just remember; do _not_ get the Monday special... I'll go there in a minute, I guess."  
  
Serenity smiled a few minutes late, as Kaiba waved her over. 'Everything's going so perfectly...' she thought blissfully. She couldn't believe how easily that had been, especially after she'd worried so much. Now she had the support of every single one of her friends; it didn't seem like things could get any better.  
  
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**SR**: O.O LONG! [grin] Well, you _were_ warned... [sweatdrop] Was it too overly crappy? I fixed it up a little, but I still just have this nagging suspicion that it was crappy... Oh well; just please don't kill me, 'k? [is reading ahead to try and remember what the heck happened next] XD Yeah, you want to save the whole killing thing for after next chapter... Mwuha! [sweatdrop] Er, please review? Heh he...


	5. Fragile Glass

**Disclaimer**: Okay, here's a question for you: _why_ don't I own Yu-gi-oh? Huh? It seems so unfair somehow...  
  
**SR**: Wee, I'm so happy! Which is why I'm posting a super-sad chappy! Eh. [sweatdrop] Anyway! So, like I said, I went away for a week. And when I came home... [tears of joy] ...the Yu-gi-oh DVD I'd ordered had arrived! 32 episodes of the first season, in original Japanese yet! Which means my only guides to what they're saying are fuzzy memories and crappy subtitles, but I don't care! It looks like it gets up to where Joey beats Bandit Keith... yes, I peeked... but only a little! Would you believe, Yugi's Japanese voice is actually more manly than his English one? [cracks up] And here I was thinking he would be done by a girl... Heh, okay, okay, I'll stop ranting now. Enjoy the chapter!  
  
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**Chapter Five**: Fragile Glass  
  
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{Wednesday, a week later}  
  
Serenity whistled happily, walking down the dark street. She was on her way home from Tea's; Tea had accused her during school of having no time for her friends anymore since she had started going out with Kaiba, and when the older girl threw in a rented movie or two Serenity just couldn't resist. She had gone over for a few hours, called her mom to ask if she could stay a little longer, and was finally on her way home at around ten. She was walking, because Tea lived just a few blocks away.  
  
It was such a beautiful night, she thought, looking up at the glittering stars. They looked like someone had broken a glass pane and it had shattered all over the pitch sky. So beautiful. They reminded her of something else, too. Since she had been living here she had started to feel like she had as many friends as there were stars in the sky. And if her friends were the stars, she suddenly thought, Seto was the moon...  
  
It was about then that a strong hand reached out and grabbed her wrists behind her back...  
  
Serenity gasped as she was yanked hard against another body, and the blade of a knife was pressed against her neck She screamed, but it was cut off abruptly as the knife pressed harder into her throat, just enough to let out a trickle of blood. She winced, but didn't dare move or try to scream again.  
  
The man holding her breathed, and she smelled alcohol. "Hush gurly," he said, his voice slurred from being so drunk. "You're gonna like dis..."  
  
He dragged her into the ally he had come out of, forcing her to the ground underneath him. 'Help me someone!' she thought desperately. He tossed the knife aside and she screamed again, but he slapped her. "Hush!" he said again, angry, and ripped her shirt off. The man kissed her roughly, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood when she resisted, and shoved one of his hands down her pants at the same time...  
  
'Help me; please!' she thought, starting to cry. Through her tears she could make out the moon over head. 'Someone... Seto...'  
  
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{An hour later}  
  
"Hello?" Tea asked curiously when she picked up the phone.  
  
"Hi," came the voice of Seto Kaiba, sounding slightly embarrassed. "Um, I called Serenity's house but she wasn't home... She mentioned that she was going over there for a while, so I was wondering if I could talk to her for a bit."  
  
Tea frowned. "She... wasn't home?" she said slowly. "Are you sure you heard right?"  
  
"Yes," Kaiba said curtly.  
  
She bit her lower lip, concerned. "Crap... Okay, listen. She left about an hour ago; she was walking..."  
  
On the other end, Kaiba paled. "She was _walking_?" he demanded. "At this time of night?"  
  
"We're only a few blocks apart, so we thought..." Her voice trailed off. This wasn't exactly the best part of town, after all. "Correction: we didn't think," she amended, deciding not to give Kaiba the chance to do so himself.  
  
"Stay put," he commanded. The strain of trying to stay calm showed plainly in his voice. "It might be dangerous for you to look for her yourself. Give me your address and I'll look for her."  
  
Kaiba didn't even wait for his chauffeur to get ready. He took his own car, driving well above the speed limit the whole way to Tea's house.  
  
Once he got there he slowed down, scanning the streets and getting more worried by the minute...  
  
===============================================================  
  
The man pulled up his pants, feeling vaguely satisfied in a drunk sort of a way. He glanced down at the battered, unconscious girl lying in the dirt at his feet, and kicked her again for no particular reason before leaving.   
  
He stumbled out of the ally and into the road, barely missing being hit by a very expensive-looking car. "Hey, watch it, mistur!" he shouted, and tripped on a pothole.  
  
The car skidded to a stop, and a tall man got out. He scowled suspiciously at the drunk, and without a word he went down the ally.  
  
===============================================================  
  
Kaiba stepped into the ally, his eyes taking a moment to get used to the darkness. What he saw once they did made him gasp. There was someone lying, naked, face-down in the trash, and he had a sinking suspicion of who it might be.  
  
He rushed over to her, turning her over and throwing his trench coat on top of her. "Oh God; Serenity," he muttered desperately, shaking her gently in hopes that she would wake up. She didn't, but she was breathing. Feeling uncharacteristically panicky, he dug his cell phone out of one of the coat pockets and called a hospital.  
  
===============================================================  
  
{Thursday morning to Monday evening}  
  
Serenity's eyes fluttered open, and she stared blearily around at her surroundings. 'All white,' she thought sleepily. 'Weird...' Then the pain finally registered, and the memories of the night before came flooding back. Tears flowed freely down her face... The nurse watching her noticed and rushed over, but even after she stopped cry she felt weak, sick, empty...  
  
A little while later Kaiba visited her, and for a bit she felt better. He sat next to her in the bed, telling her that everything was going to get better. While he was there, she thought maybe it would. But once he left, the feeling of... of dirtiness... came back. The others visited her too, but she could barely conjure up the energy to talk to them. She was incredibly grateful when the nurse shooed them out.  
  
The doctors told her that she had two fractured ribs and many deep cuts and bad bruises, but she would be fine in time. She didn't really think so, personally. Physically, maybe, but... She just couldn't shake the feeling that she was... was... 'A slut,' she thought bitterly. 'That's what he called me, wasn't it?'  
  
Kaiba visited her every day, and every time he saw her, the feeling of unease he had grew. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he just felt like something was wrong... very wrong... Finally, on Monday, he asked her about it.  
  
"What's the matter?" he asked bluntly.  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that a rhetorical question?" she finally asked, a ghost of her old grin on her lips for just an instant.  
  
He sighed. "No," he replied. "I think you know what I mean. There's something... else. I don't know how I know, but... I can just tell, somehow, that there's something you aren't telling us. Not your doctors, not your friends, not even me."  
  
She hesitated for just a moment, but the pause was there nonetheless. "No, there's nothing, Seto," she said, and gave him and actual smile.  
  
"You're a terrible liar; do you know that?" Kaiba said, tilting her face up gently so he could look into her eyes. "Please tell me; I want to help if I can."  
  
Her expression darkened, and she looked away. "I'll be fine," she said quietly.  
  
"You don't want help?" he said blankly, frowning.  
  
"No," she said. Suddenly she looked back at him, and he was startled to see that her eyes were brimming with tears. "Do you really want to know?" she demanded.  
  
"Yes," he said softly, hugging her. "Please don't cry..."  
  
"If you want to know, then you must promise me... Promise me that, no matter what, you won't tell _anyone_," she said. Kaiba felt a tiny patch of dampness seeping through his clothes, and realized that she was crying anyway.  
  
He hesitated. 'This is bad...' he thought. 'I don't like this at all... But I have to know.' "I promise," he said.  
  
The silence seemed to drag on forever. Finally, in such a small voice that he could just hear her, she said, "I want to kill myself."  
  
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**SR**: [sigh] Remind me why I re-read this junk? I think I should just have posted it and hoped for the best XD Seriously though, this is, like, the most cliché thing I've ever read... and I wrote it T.T Well, just in case any of you can actually get riled up over a cliff hanger you've read a thousand times before, please don't kill me! XD And, while you're at it, please review? Only one more chapter to go! 


	6. And Hard Diamonds

**Disclaimer**: Oh, forget this; I just wanna write... [dodges flying fruit from the people who _do_ own Yu-gi-oh] Alright, alright! Yu-gi-oh not mine! Bleh, face my bad grammar of doom!

**SR**: [sweatdrop] Well, that took a looong time to get up... But it's not my fault!!! For once!!! I tried, honest I did, but wasn't letting me upload documents for a while there O.o Argh... Well, anyhoo, yay, I like this chapter sooo much better than the last one ...Okay, that's just creepy. I've been using weird words for so long that 'sooo' is actually in my custom dictionary thingy on my word processor O.O Again, anyway... Y'know, I've actually renamed every single chapter in this thing? This one, if you'd be kind enough to notice, kinda ties in with the last one... But I'm sure you don't want to listen to me babble! [dramatic music plays] Enjoy the _last chapter_ of _Don't Tell!_ [author proceeds to crack up]

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**Chapter Six**: And Hard Diamonds

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{Monday evening}

Time stood still.

"What?" Kaiba finally managed to ask, terrified. He pulled away from her so he could look at her face, hoping that, somehow, this was a joke. "No... You can't... You just can't want..."

"I know that you can't understand," she said quietly. "But... I do."

He winced, and turned half-way away. "I do understand," he replied, his voice betraying how hard it was to say.

"What?" she frowned. "But... you never..." She shuddered.

"No; that's where you're wrong," he said heavily. "I... You remember how I told you that I had a step dad? There's a reason I don't use his room..." His expression darkened, trying not to think about those times.

Serenity was silent for a few minutes, letting it sink in. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry if this... Makes you think about him. Does anyone else know?"

Kaiba shook his head. "No one knows the whole story, I guess," he admitted. "Mokuba knows the most, but he doesn't know everything that Gozaburo... used to do. And the doctors; I'm not sure exactly how much they looked into the matter, but they're probably next."

"Doctors?" Serenity asked, confused.

Wordlessly, he pulled up his left sleeve. Somehow, she'd never noticed it – though of course, she'd only seen him without a shirt on once – but there was an ugly scar across his wrist. She gasped.

"What...?" she asked weakly.

"I tried to do what you want to do," he said grimly. "About a year after the bastard died... I lost heart at the last moment, I guess, and didn't cut deep enough. Because Mokuba... Because Mokuba came in. I owe my life to that kid. I realize I was a fool now."

"You're trying to talk me out of it," Serenity said, sighing. "Please... Don't."

"I have to; can't you see that?" he demanded. "All I had was Mokuba, and I still realized that I couldn't give up, for his sake. But you have so many people that care about you. Your mother, Joey, Yugi and all his groupies... Me."

Those two letters... They sent her head spinning. Half of her didn't think she could go on; thought it would be so much easier to make it all go away. But she wasn't sure, when she knew how much it would hurt Seto... Not to mention everyone else... She didn't even realize that she was crying again at first, until Kaiba wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you," he whispered.

Something snapped. All her resolve; it flowed away. It would be hard to go on, but if it meant leaving this too... "I'm sorry," she said, into his shirt. "I can't... I won't..."

"Can't what?" he asked softly.

She looked up, and smiled at him through her tears. "I love you; I don't think I could... ever leave you."

Kaiba hugged her the whole time until the nurse came in to tell him to go.

===============================================================

Kaiba stayed up late that evening, as usual. He stayed up under the pretense of working, but really he wasn't getting anything done. Something bothered him; irritated him. He couldn't place a finger on what was the matter, but... he was still worried.

'But she said she wouldn't,' he told himself firmly. 'So there's no way...'

But there was. He knew it. One of the things that made him so anxious was that he didn't see how it could be possible for her to be so convinced one minute, then turn right around and never think about it again. When he tried to kill himself, the doctors had found out that it was attempted suicide from Mokuba; he was too worried not to tell, even when Kaiba asked him not to. Even though he tried to convince them that he wasn't going to do it again, they had still made him see a psychiatrist, just in case he had 'second thoughts.' As much as he would never admit it, he was glad they had. He wasn't so sure now that he would have stuck to his word...

'It just isn't supposed to be this easy,' he thought in frustration. Maybe she genuinely thought she was better now, but there was always a chance...

And of course, there was that feeling... The reason he called Tea's that night wasn't just because he wanted to talk to Serenity. He had been feeling restless, for lack of a better word. And now he felt like that again. He strongly suspected it was just paranoia, but whatever it was he didn't like it.

Finally he gave in and picked up the phone. When he called the hospital and told them that he wanted to speak to one of the patients, however, they told him to call back in the morning. He put the phone down again, feeling distinctly annoyed.

He shot an angry look at the paperwork waiting on his desk. He really needed to get it all finished by tomorrow, and it would take a large chunk of his time to drive over there... Not to mention it would make him look like a fool if he was wrong.

Finally he sat back down and tried to do some of it. After all, practically all he had to go on was a stupid feeling. Given, there was a chance that she might still be in danger, but it wouldn't make sense for her to try so soon after she said she wouldn't. She had really seemed to mean it. 'And plus,' he thought reasonably, 'it's not like I could actually get to her. If they wouldn't let me talk to her over the phone then it's not likely they'd let me in to see her.'

And still he couldn't concentrate. The feeling continued, nagging in the back of his head like a persistent headache. It didn't seem to care whether or not Kaiba had himself convinced that everything was going to be fine... Or did he? The best thing she had been able to give him, he couldn't help but think, was something that contained an 'I don't think...' Not that he didn't trust her. In most circumstances, he would have trusted her completely. He would trust her with his life, certainly. But the question was, would he trust her with her own...

Fifteen minutes went by. He started pacing again, thinking that with every second that passed... 'Damn it!' he thought. 'I should have told somebody, even if it did mean that she would have a harder time trusting me... To hell with it!' He abruptly stopped pacing, grabbed his coat, and started downstairs.

Mokuba looked up, startled, as his brother went by the living room. "I'm going out for a while," Kaiba said.

"Okay," Mokuba said skeptically. His brother never went out this late... He shrugged it off. If there was an emergency he would have said, the young boy decided as he heard Kaiba's car start up. The video game called...

The whole way to the hospital, Kaiba kept having to remind himself not to be so tense. When he got there he walked down the halls with perhaps more speed than was called for, taking care not to let the woman at the front desk notice him in case she tried to stop him.

Serenity's nurse was another matter. He couldn't get passed her, because she was standing right outside in the hall. When he saw her he frowned, as did she.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, examining him closely. "It's well passed visiting hours, you know."

"I know," he said curtly. "I asked first though."

She glowered at him, which he defiantly did not like. "Well," she said testily, "my patient asked to be alone for a minute, right after she took her medication for the evening." He could have sworn he heard her mutter, "As if it's any of you business..."

His frown deepened. "Right after she took her medication?" he demanded. "Then... Where is it?"

She blinked. "Oh, um... Well, I guess I left it in there," she admitted. "But I really don't see why-"

"All right," he said firmly. "Let me in."

"No!" she said angrily. "Look, who ever you are... It's passed visiting hours!"

"I don't actually give a shit," he commented, taking a step forward.

She downright glared this time. "I could call security, you know," she said, brandishing a walky-talky type thing at him. "Why are you so interested in seeing her, anyway?"

He hesitated. He could tell her, of course, but that would mean breaking his promise to Serenity... He would have to, if he wanted to get in. "All right, fine," he said tensely. "Serenity... She told me..." He took a deep breath, trying to calm down enough to get a sentence out. 'Every second I waste...' "I'm her boyfriend. And she told me that... She has thought about killing herself."

"What?" the nurse gasped, horrified. "Why didn't you tell anyone?!"

"She made me promise not to," he said, realizing just how feeble that seemed. "She said she wouldn't, but... Look, if you left that medicine in there..."

"Oh..." All the color drained out of the nurse's face, and she spun around and opened the door. What Kaiba saw there made his heart stop.

Serenity was standing beside her bed, facing the door and crying freely. She held a bottle in one hand, and in the other there was a heap of little white pills. She was staring at them, but when the door opened she looked up, shocked. Her eyes widened further when she saw Kaiba.

"Don't," he said, just loud enough for her to hear. He didn't seem to be able to move...

While she was still frozen in surprise, the nurse rushed forward and knocked the pills out of Serenity's hand. The little white things scattered everywhere. Serenity stared at them numbly, but made no move to pick them up. As the nurse called security, she slowly sunk to her knees among them; she made no sound, but Kaiba could see that she was still crying. He finally forced himself to move and went over to her, the medicine crunching underneath his feet.

===============================================================

{Five months later}

A few weeks later, Serenity was released from the hospital. He mother cried, and it was all very cheesy. She still had to go in for check-ups on how the ribs were healing, and she had to see a physiatrist. A few months later, however, she was declared all healed - physically and mentally.

About five months from the night she was raped, she turned seventeen (I know, I know; I probably have her age all wrong, but oh well.). She had her friends over for a huge party, and that evening they all went out to do some shopping with the birthday money from assorted relatives – or so her mother thought. Actually, Mai drove her over to Kaiba's.

"Remember, be safe!" she said, overly-innocent.

"Mai!" Serenity said, rolling her eyes. "You're twisted..."

"Bu-bye!" she snickered, driving off. Serenity sighed a little, walking up to the house. She really needed to tell her mom she had a boyfriend; that was why Kaiba hadn't been at the party. It wasn't that she was particularly worried; she just hadn't gotten around to it. But at the moment she didn't care too much. She had great friends, she was seventeen, and most importantly, she had a wonderful boyfriend...

The fact of that matter was, she hardly ever thought about the rape, or what she had almost done, these days. Perhaps the same thing had happened to her that Kaiba has said happened to him. Just seeing him there, that day in the hospital room, seemed to snap her back to reality, far more that his lecture had. Though of course, she had a sneaking suspicion that Tea's friendship talks (which bored her to tears) probably made her recovery more difficult, but still... She smirked a little at the thought. Tea was a great friend sometimes, but other times she drove everyone insane...

She stopped thinking about all this, however, as she got to the house. Since they were expecting her, she walked right in, and what she saw made her double over in laughter.

Kaiba had evidentially tripped on the stairs, but he still somehow had hold of Mokuba's ankle. Mokuba had hold of the railing with one hand and was trying to pull free, and with the other hand he was holding a little box just out of reach (Kaiba was trying to grab it with the hand that wasn't holding his younger brother's ankle.).

"Give it here!" Kaiba groaned.

"Never!" Mokuba declared, laughing evilly. Then he saw Serenity, and grinned hugely. "But, on second thought, here," he said, and dropped the box right into Kaiba's hand. Kaiba was so shocked that he let go of Mokuba's ankle, and the boy ran the rest of the way up the stairs, laughing his head off. "HiSerenityIhavetohidenow!" floated back to them.

Kaiba frowned, standing gingerly and brushing himself off. "What in the world..." he started, but stopped abruptly when he turned around.

Serenity snickered. "Hi," she commented.

"Hi," he replied, casually putting the box in one of his pockets. "Um, sorry about that..."

"Okay, it's okay," she said, amused. "Are you _sure_ you're as old as you claim you are, though?" When he groaned, she added, "Hey, don't complain. There are plenty of other things I could be teasing you about right now, you know."

"Like what?" he demanded.

"Well... the view; it was nice..."

"You just say this sort of thing to spin me up, don't you?" he asked seriously.

"Maybe," she replied mischievously.

Later that evening, when Mokuba went to bed, they were in the living room talking. Well, actually, they had stopped talking a long time ago and Serenity was curled up in Kaiba's arms on the couch. She might have dozed off long ago, but she stayed awake because she was curious about something; he seemed awfully tense...

"Serenity?" he asked finally.

"Got up enough courage to ask me what you've been thinking about for the passed, oh, half hour at last?" she asked.

He blinked. "Well, I... You know me too well," he admitted, grinning a little in spite of being nervous.

"Thank you," she laughed. "So?"

"Well, um..." He shifted slightly, suddenly feeling really anxious. "You see, the thing is... I don't know if this is legal or not... I mean, you're only seventeen... But, um, well... Gah..." He fished around in his coat pockets, and handed her a box – the same one Mokuba had been taunting him with when she came in.

"What's this?" she asked, confused. Inside the box there was an incredibly expensive-looking ring.

"Your birthday present. Serenity... Will you marry me?" He held his breath.

There was a moment of silence. A very _long_ moment.

She abruptly rolled over, and kissed him. "Of course," she said finally, out of breath and not sure whether she was going to laugh or cry. "Of course!"

Suddenly, the over head light flickered on. Mokuba, in his pajamas, glanced at them. "Get a room," he snickered, heading to the kitchen.

The couple stared at him as he went. Suddenly, Serenity smirked. "You know," she said slowly, "that doesn't sound like such a bad idea..."

===============================================================

**SR**: Hah, I've finally reposted all of something! FINALLY! ... ... ... ... ... Waaa! It was horrible! It sucked! I have no self-esteem!

Okay, I had to get all that out of my system. Seriously though, I'm really amazed that so many peeps like this thing. To all ya'll who've review, thank you! Special thankies go to all my returning reviewers: ShizukaxSeto, nkitty29, Chibi-Kari, Squallsgurl, nelita, and yamiz-mine. It's nice to know at least a few people didn't run screaming as soon as they saw this thing... Y'know, like me... [hands these people cookies] But thankies to everybody else, too :) Sorry if I missed anyone! Now, please, I'm begging you on hands and knees (hey, that rhymed! Scary...), pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaase, review! Reviewreviewreviewreviewreview! [hyperventilating...] Reviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreview! [hyperventilates so much that she faints and dies]

**The Ghost of SR**: Review anyway; it doesn't matter if I'm dead! [grins like idiot] Bai bai!


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